SEMINOLE – The Friends of the Seminole Community Library and Novare Library Services are hosting the inaugural Mid-Pinellas Comic Con Saturday, Aug. 9, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Seminole Community Library at SPC, 9200 113th St. N.

The event will feature a wide feature, a wide variety of exhibitors, special guests and a costume contest. Admission is free.

The artist-writer team of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti will be on hand. Brandy Stark will give a lecture on females in comic books. A representative from the Morean Arts Center will offer a class on making a graphic novel. There also will be a Howl-O-Scream panel.

For the younger crowd, there will be face painting and plenty of costumed characters to meet, including Spider-Man, the Real Tampa Bay Ghostbusters and the Star Wars costumers of the 501st Legion.

The event also will feature gaming tournaments by Gamers on the Edge, food trucks and a costume contest. Exhibitors such as Critical Hit Games, Comic World, Emerald City Comics and Serenity Games will show off their wares.

Comic book fans will recognize the prolific work of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti.

According to her biography at DC Comics, Conner began her professional art career as an illustrator for New York City ad agencies.

Her passion for comic books and cartooning soon took her in a new direction. She first found work at companies such as Archie, Marvel and Claypool Comics. Since then, Conner has worked on several high-profile projects, such as Vampirella and Painkiller Jane. She also has been involved in creator-owned projects such as Gatecrasher and The Pro

Conner’s work for DC Comics includes Codename Knockout, Birds of Prey, Terra and a run on Power Girl and Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre.

Palmiotti is a multi-award-winning writer and comic artist and the co-founder of Event Comics, Black Bull Media, Marvel Knights and most recently Paperfilms, where he currently partners with Conner and Justin Gray.

Together they have created and co-created: Monolith, 21 Down, The Resistance and The Twilight Experiment for DC Comics as well as The New West, The Pro, Gatecrasher, Beautiful Killer, Ash, Cloudburst, Trigger Girl 6, Splatterman, Thrill Seeker, Trailblazer and Ballerina.

Palmiotti’s other comic book work includes Power Girl and Jonah Hex for DC Comics, The Last Resort for IDW, Back to Brooklyn for Image Comics and Spartacus for Devils Due. He writes All-Star Western for DC Comics' the New 52.

Conner and Palmiotti launched a Harley Quinn ongoing series in November 2013.